THE PRESIDENTS POSER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22225, 27 September 1935, Page 10

THE PRESIDENTS POSER

"Tell me where you feel our Government can better serve our people 1 ?" is the searching question addressed by President Roosevelt to every clergyman in the United States. New Zealand politicians should be consumed with envy as they marvel at the adroitness of this move. It is unfortunate that the Minister of Employment was unable to think of so gentle but deadly a thrust some weeks ago. Not that Mr. Roosevelt has disclosed any other motive than a laudable desire for information. He wants to get other than official views. That was his naive explanation when asked the meaning of his step in going to the clergy for advice. The fact that his meaning should thus have been called in question has elements of humour, at least for the layman. I Joking apart, however, to what better court could the President take the problem of human welfare than the clergy? It may prove to have been a flash of inspiration that has ! led the President to go in that direc- ! tion with his perplexities. In Auckland, of course, there is a group of I clergymen , who insist that all social | distresses are the concern of the ! Government and who look to the j State for the cure of ills which had lin the past been considered as ! partly, if not chiefly, the concern of ■ the Christian Church. Mr. Roosevelt, however, think?! well enough of the American clergy to seek their opinion, to ask them for some positive contribution toward the realisation of social justice. It is reported that the response has been immediate and that, as might have been expected, the answers are "as diverse as traditional political and economic differences can make them." Very occasionally are they indicative of their origin among the clergy. It is difficult to believe, however, that the sample answers published this morning represent a fair cross-section of American clerical opinion. Surely Mr. Roosevelt will winnow some grain from the political and even parochial chaff which the clergy profferß. Rome nre honest enough to confess their incompetence to speak on such a complex subject, while the Lutheran Group strikes down to fundamentals in declaring that "the billions of Government expenditure only emphasise the lovelessness and selfishness of the age which has made it necessary." It is impossible not to wonder whether the Lutherans meant to imply that the secular aids lavished by the State can be no more than palliatives, and that the real task rests with the Church to make a living reality of the Christian rule of life.